The Shape of Things to Come (Hypernaturals 15)

Down It Goes

"We have solid landings from all the first wave. Every drone is down and in its assigned location. GPS and triangulation with other drones show they are on target by plus or minus a few centimeters. Stellar flying." Luciana announced.

On the status board, the diagrams of the roofs displayed a set of green circles. It was not a grid, as they were lined up on known roof structures. The roofs being flat, hidden under their 'skin' are load-bearing joists. Now, sitting on top of the roof and along the joists is a line of C4-equipped robotic helicopters.

There is enough C4 already landed to doom the buildings entirely.

"Lining up wave two." Luciana said. This wave is an insurance wave. Nothing was intercepted, or even detected so far, but we were ready with redundancy in case there was an interception.

I was looking at the IR-equipped drones still in the air and their camera feeds. Some of them are looking down into the building. The third wave, hovering near the second wave, was also looking around.

"No one detected inside the buildings." Luciana announced.

I am not sure what they would have decided if the buildings were full of people. If there was a number that would have been defined as 'acceptable causality.' I am happy to see in IR that the number of people right now is zero.

I wondered about that dynamic for a second. This is Denise, Anne, and Luciana's deal. Neither Victoria nor I would override any decisions they made. If they decided there were too many people inside and aborted, we would support that. I would. Pretty sure Victoria would. Pretty sure if Victoria and I came to be on the opposite sides of that, Crew would follow me, and then later Victoria would be rebuilding Council and Crew from the hole it would cause. She knows that. She put this team in place for a reason, and she would never get sideways with us like that.

She might haul me out behind the barn later, but that is a fight she cannot win. Not on any level. She can say she is displeased, and I will take that under advisement, but the power is mine. I can leave Council and she knows what would happen if I did. No. Victoria will be on board no matter what.

On the other hand, if the Crew Lead Trinity decided to take the building down on a ton of people, it would not only be me that felt bad. Denise would have regrets. Anne and Luciana have never been as vocal about their killing in the past, but they planned hard on this operation to avoid casualties. I assume from that they have a point where they would say 'No'. Too many deaths. Not worth it'. And then they would all tell me they would find another way to figure out things. That would be code to say 'how to find my kids'.

I am one thousand percent sure they would rather kidnap than kill in this scenario. The Elders think we are weak because we don't like to kill, as a culture. I wonder if they would think that same thing if my kids started disappearing from the country, one by one.

And: I wonder where I would be on that idea. I am responsible for Crew to Council, but more importantly, I am responsible to Crew. I owe them the best I can give them. I have a sacred trust. This is a version or usage of the word 'sacred' I understand. They are loyal as fuck to Crew and the mission. To my Leads. I owe the Crew that same loyalty back. We are not Cert. We do not do things the way she did any more. I am not sure I would allow in-country kidnapping operations and risking Crew's lives just because I have a thing about being an involved parent. It is not worth people dying for if I can avoid it.

That would be hard. How would I be able to look at my kids and say 'Sorry: I left your sisters to their fates in a Vampire Geo that will teach them how to hate their father'? But how could I risk lives to prevent that? Even if I alone could sneak off to take all the risks myself, what happens if I get caught and or killed? I just undid the whole reason I was there because now my kids in this Geo don't have their Dad. Well. OK. Me. Danny would be there. And all the moms. But still: My responsibility too.